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WAY back 
OL in the Sierra 

most lost in the great 
shadowy chasms, are ^ 

two little threads of steel. 
Their width is something 
like two inches and they 
are always just so far apart 
as they go writhing snake- 
like along the craggy 
mountain side. Very pretty 
they seem as they lie 




close to the rock-ribbed 



surface, now lost in the 
depths of a gorge, now 
shooting into space, yet 
mounting higher and 
higher until lost in the 
distant haze. 

Those two little ribbons 
of steel, constitute the 
Mt. Lowe Railway, known 
throughout the world as the 
most wonderful engineer- 
ing feat ever accomplished. 

They link together a 
tropical and a northern 



^■,/^^. 




zone, a la 
famous f 
its luxuriant 
wealth 

flowers and sunshine, an 
a land of silence, whose 
only inhabitants are great 
lone pines and clouds and 
snow. In an hundred and 
eighty -five minutes they 
carry you from the valley, 
close by the sea, to a 
gaunt rugged mountain 
peak, where the whole 




country lies like a 
gorgeously colored 
panorama at your 
feet — a country be- 
loved of the gods, 
the home of the Spaniard, 
of romance and of flowers. 
The start is made at 
Los Angeles, the road 
passing through the San 
Gabriel Valley via the 
Ostrich Farm and Pasadena 
— that Mecca for Eastern 
wealth and culture. Pass- 



iiig Altadena thence 
through the poppy field 
we reach Rubio Can- 
yon, a picturesque gorge 
of great depth. From there 
the Cable Incline draws 
you up to Echo Mountain 
on a grade of forty per cent, 
where you ascend thirteen 
hundred feet in a distance of 
three thousand 
feet. On Echo 
Mountain is 
situated the 




Chalet, also the noted Mt. 
Lowe Observatory which 
contains one of the largest 
and most powerful telescopes 
in the world and bears the 
enviable astronomical record 
of discovering seven comets 
and one thousand nebulae ; 
the World's Fair Search- 
light, and the Casino, a 
building on the Swiss style 
of architecture which boasts 
the finest dancing floor in 
Southern California. 



From Echo Mountain to 
Alpine Tavern the journey 
is continued in an observa- 
tion car, 
as the 
road from 
here on is 
the grand- 
est part 
of the 
trip. At 
times the car fairly hangs 
in mid-air, and miles and 
miles below, you can see 





tinned on foot, or if de- 
sired, burros, may be 
secured. At the summit a 
scene of unparalleled grand- 
eur is brought into view. 
To the right and left the 
mountains spread away in 
ceaseless rotation, growing 
dimmer and dimmer, until 
they melt into one long 
gray line. In front nestling 
at your feet, lies the San 
Gabriel Valley, quiet and 
peaceful. Perhaps you can 




hear the 
Mission 



bells toii^'- '''w^yf^m-mi:^ 
ing fkith- >^4i|p!'i'^;:*'-' 

fully the call to prayers; 
perhaps more faintly, the 
chant of the ''Ave Maria" 
on the evening air. You 
picture the gray coated 
friars kneeling in silent de- 
votion, for the charm of the 
mountain solitude is upon 
you and your thoughts are 
of things holy. 






Then the sun drops like 
a molten ball into the arms 
of the ocean that rolls 
away into the great un- 
known. And as darkness 
steals over the land, the 
gorges become mere rifts 
of blackness across the 
mountain side, and as the 
sky merges from gold to 
gra}^, there suddenly glim- 
mers into view far down 
the depths below a jnulti- 
tude of twinkling stars. 



messengers from 
the cities of the 
plains. And then, 
a great beam of 
light —the Search- 
light — flashes 
across the horizon, 
darting along the 
mountain side 
and into the 
depths of the 
gorges, disappear- 
ing for a moment 
only to reappear 




miles away down on the 
sea coast, and on the 
"Ships that pass in the 
night," where the waves 
thunder ceaselessly across 
the shifting sands and the 
scream of the sea bird 
comes shrilly through the 
air. 

But here on the mount- 
ain top, all is silence — 
deep, holy silence, unbroken 
save for the occasional chirp 



of a cricket or the 
rustle of leaves 
in the night air. 
It is the silence 
of Nature, of the 
great lone mount- 
ain and of the 
pines. And as 
the stars one by 
one light up the 
heavens, you 
quietly go down to 
your room at the 
Tavern, a better 




being for having felt the 
touch of nature — nature, 
pure and holy, direct from 
the hand of God. 

A short refreshing sleep, 
and it is sunrise on the 
mountain top! A burst of 
glory on a sea 
of clouds, 
dotted here 
and there 
with 
islands — 
friendly 




peaks as noble as "^^ 
your own, who thrust their 
proud heads through 
into this upper world, / 
this realm of blue and 
silver and gold, above the 
shadow land below. 

You board the electric car 
and sink through the mist 
of clouds. A light flurry of 
snow (white fluttering spirits 
of sweet blossoms from the 
orange groves below) greets 
you half way down. 




^-\ 




Emerging from this man- 
tle of whiteness, you de- 
scend again by the incline 
railway and land at the base 
of the mountains^ where you 
may step from the cars and 
walk for miles through 
c^ fields of golden poppies, the 
California flower, which 
spread as 
a carpet 
before you, 
inviting you to 
linger and to pla3^ 







From here to San Gabriel 
Mission is but a short trip 
by the cars of the Pacific 
Electric Railway through 
tropical gardens, laden with 
the perfume of sweet flowers 
and fragrant orange groves, 
out into the broad expanse 
of the valley, where the sun 
shines as brightly as it did 
a century and a quarter ago, 
when an exploring party 
consisting of the Reverend 
Fathers Angel Somera and 



Pedro Cambon and a guard 
of ten soldiers located "a 
fertile spot about five hun- 
dred yards from a little 
rivulet " as the site of the 
mission. 

On account of its accessi- 
bility, San Gabriel, the most 
imposing of all the old mis- 
sions of California, is visited 
by thousands of tourists 
annually, and is photo- 
graphed and sketched times 
without number. The spirit 




of California dwells 
in the old missions; 
here yon live in _ 
the soft delicious 
atmosphere of the land of 
the Padres and of Ramona. 
Accompanied by the benign 
father you can make an 
inspection of the interior of 
the mission with its famous 
life-size paintings in oil, of 
the apostles and other 
saints, done by the hands 
of the old mission Indians. 




Besides several 
old statues, 
there are cen- 
sers and other 
holy vessels. 
The old baptis- 
mal font of 
hammered copper is unique. 
It was probably brought 
from Spain long before the 
founding of the California 
mission, and has been in 
its present place ever since 
the church was built. 



Of the six historic bells 
that used to chime the Ave 
Maria, but four have been in 
the belfry these past thirty 
years. Inscribed on the first 
bell is the invocation, "Hail! 
Most Holy Mary!" Next 
is the name of the saint for 
whom it was named, St. 
Francis, while the third line 
tells that it was made by De 
Paul Ruelas. There is no 
date, but it was evidently 
cast in the i8th century. 




. x^ 



An hour\s rest 
under the historic 
mission grapevine, 
a visit to the old 
Campo Santo, or 
Spanish graveyard, 
and the few adobe residences, 
and a look at the cactus 
hedge, complete the morn- 




ing's pleasurable sight see- 
ing, and prepares one for the 
ride via Los Angeles and 
through the '* co-operative 
gardens" to Long Beach. 
You arrive in r/_ -, 

time for a 
noontide 




and an idle hour ^ 



upon the sands, partaking 
freely of the sea foods, salt, 
sand and soliloquy; the tonic 
of old ocean, the dash of it 
in your face and the roar of 
it in your ears make mem- 
orable a pleasant outing and 
vividly impress the beauty 
of living in a land where it 
is always summer afternoon, 
and where there is only the 
difference of a few hours 
between the realm of snow 
covered mountains, tropical 




gay seashore. \./^ 

The return trip to Los 
Angeles carries you| 
through the Domiuguez 
Rancho, which in the stately 
days of the Mexican aris- 
tocracy extended ten and a 
half leagues along the 
ocean, including the present 
sites of San Pedro, Terminal 
Island and Long Beach. 
The house is noted for its 
picturesque style of 
Spanish architecture. 



Ramon a at one time 
worshipped in the private 
chapel, which still remains 
as a famous land mark of 
Southern California, and in 
which every noted bishop of 
Southern California has 
conducted services. 

In the days of bull fights 
^■^ i\a ^ ' "': ^ihisi.i*aCBjpll; was the scene of 

(fi many a game 
of toro. 




The surrounding mesa is 
historic in being the last 
battle ground between the 
Mexican and U. S. troops. 

Leaving these scenes in 
the dusk of twilight, we 
proceed to the metropolitan 
city of Los Angeles, a gem 
set in a ring of mountains 
and adorned with a chaste 
crown of snow — located as if 
chosen especially for the 
convenience of the tourist 
and the sightseer. 



PRESENTED WITH COMPLIMENTS OE 
THE PACiriC ELECTRIC RAILWAY 



Take The 
"POPPY" 



OBSERVATION 

... V^/Vll ... 



Around the Orange 
Grove Route — $I.OO 
Round TripjStopping 
at Ostrich Farm, San 
Gabriel Mission and 
Baldwin's Ranch 
Day for a Dollar 
Competent Guide 

Private Car Ask 

any agent about it 



Pacific Electric Ry 



Los Angreles, Cal. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 




020 994 875 8 • 









N.Pasadena 
ilkSADENA 



Boyt 



r^^MONROVIA ^v 



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•9^'o^ci Pork 

LosAngeles 



OOuorfe 



SAN GABRIEL 
'a~ MISSION 



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Dominguez 
Del Amo 



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Camp Stone ; ^ Garden Grove *^^^ «9e, 

Long Beach ^"^^ 



Devils Gate 



SANTA ANA 




PEDRO 



^, Pacif/c Ocean 



MAP of PACIFIC ELECTRIC RAILWAY CO/S 
LINES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 



BAUMQAROT PRINT. HON. aROAOWAV 



